NetApp India lays off over 150 in Bengaluru

CENNAI: US data storage equipment maker NetApp laid off some 150 to 200 employees in its Bengaluru facility on Wednesday. The company has about 2,000 employees in India.

Two weeks ago, the company had announced that as part of a global restructuring, it would be cutting 12% of its workforce, which equates to roughly 1,500 workers. Disruptions such as cloud and mobile have adversely impacted a number of traditional enterprise technology players, and the storage vendors have been no exception. The difficulties persuaded NetApp’s main rival EMC last year to sell itself off to Dell; EMC also announced a layoff in January.

Some of NetApp’s affected employees in Bengaluru said they had been warned two months ago to look out for other jobs. Some said they are getting a severance package of about two months’ full pay and 8-10 months’ basic pay.

Employees were called in separately and told about their severance packages. “There are slight differences in the packages,” said a 42-year-old team leader, adding that his age would make his re-employment a tougher prospect.

Since the lay-offs were anticipated, the mood was sober on Wednesday, with people packing personal belongings like their children’s photographs, fish tanks, and birthday greeting cards into brown cardboard boxes.

Several said they would miss the environment at NetApp. “They always used to give me leave when I required, provided work from home options, and was supportive of my plans for higher education,” said a 28-yearold data analyst, who is now unsure how he would finance his overseas studies.

Another employee said whenever her husband went on an overseas assignment, she would be allowed to work from home for long stretches because she had a two-year-old daughter to take care of. “When required, I would even take her to work, and the office was very supportive,” said the 30-yearold, who says she will join a Masters programme, as she does not see any immediate job opportunities.

NetApp CEO George Kurian said in a statement that NetApp is transforming to become more focused, efficient, and effective. “These changes will allow us to build a thriving company able to rapidly respond to the changing IT market,” he said.